352 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



In a letter of October 1885 to General Mitford 

 the same officer writes : " Lord Napier, who had 

 known him in an administrative capacity and in 

 the field, held him in the highest esteem, as did 

 also Sir Henry Lawrence. We know what the 

 army thought of him — I would that there were 

 many like him to lead and set the example which 

 he gave to ns." 



To the last Lord Napier of Magdala retained his 

 old belief in Hodson's moral worth. Writing to his 

 friend's biographer in November 1883, he says: 

 "I am much obliged for the perusal of your 

 preface to the new edition of your Memoir of your 

 brother. I am now, as I have always been, fully 

 convinced of his honour and integrity." To the 

 same effect Sir James Outram, a man as shrewd 

 as he was generous, had borne his testimony shortly 

 after Hodson's death. " I was a great admirer of 

 Hodson," he wrote to his brother, "and gave no 

 credit to the stories against him." 



Amons; Hodson's warmest admirers was the late 

 George C. Barnes, who, as Commissioner of the Cis- 

 Satlaj States, had done excellent service from the 

 very outset of the Mutiny. Like many other of 

 John Lawrence's men, he had been strongly preju- 

 diced against Hodson by the stories current after 

 Hodson's dismissal from the command of the Guides 

 — stories founded, as we have seen, upon the virtual 

 suppression of Reynell Taylor's report. His eyes 

 had since been opened to the truth by Mr Sloggett's 

 timely explanations, who had been invited to meet 

 a large company of officers and civilians at his 

 house. 



" In the course of conversation," says Mr Sloggett, 



